Good news, heat seekers: Scientists think chilli might be a superfood

It turns out spicy food does more for you than clear the sinuses and make you crave a tall glass of milk. Yep, a report from Time suggests that eating spicy food will give you a 14% reduced risk of death and slow the growth of cancer cells.

It sounds pretty awesome, but let’s get down to the nitty gritty. While some have taken this immediately to mean that all hot sauces are superfoods, we have an inkling that there’s a little bit more to it.

David Popovich, a scientist and senior lecturer at Massey University in New Zealand, swears by the health benefits of eating hot chilli peppers.

Just so we’re clear: when talking about the health benefits of chilli, we’re talking about the pepper itself, not the added sugar and sodium and goodness knows what else is in your favourite supermarket hot sauce.

It might be time to load up on hot sauce.

The active ingredient in peppers – capsaicin – has proven to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer effects.

Another scientific paper reported that after surveying half a million Chinese adults, those who ate spicy foods three or more times a week had reduced their risk of premature death by 14%.